Cracked boots will contribute to wearing the tie rod ends sooner.
Unfortunately, after checking both the fiche and ETKA, it appears VW
never offered the boots as a separately replaceable item - interesting
note though, it shows the wire ring that retains the boot to the tie
rods end and that is available (111 415 837).  Since that is a Beetle
number, you might be able to use the corresponding boot (Beetle Late
68-79, Bus to 79):

http://www.airheadparts.com/vintage-vw-parts/tie-rod-ends/boot-tie-rod-end-113415835

This is a great quality repro from VWG, much better than the thin
material of the original.  Might be worth checking out.

Only speculating, dunno if they would work, I'll have to compare the
boot to the assembly Airhead keeps in stock.
-- 
Jim Thompson
84 GL 1.9 "Gloria"
84 Westfalia 2.1 "Ole Putt"
72 411 Station Wagon "Pug"
75 914 1.8 "Nancy"
Full Timing Since March 1999
oldvolkshome@gmail.com
http://www.oldvolkshome.com
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On Sat, May 28, 2011 at 9:26 AM, Dave Mcneely <mcneely4@cox.net> wrote:
> are cracked. �Mechanic said replace them when tie rod ends are bad and need replaced.
>
> So, (1) how do I know when the tie rod ends are bad, and (2) won't cracked boots contribute to them going bad sooner? �Can I replace the boots only? �There seems to be no problem with steering or suspension. �I had the thing aligned last time I bought tires (20K miles ago), and the tech did not mention any difficulty with the alignment.
>
> I looked for tie rod end boots from a couple of vendors, but one had nothing relating to tie rods, and one had only a kit including the rest of the parts.
>